Open Doors

Plumbago sunlight

My last post, Unchartered Ocean, brought me up to the present.

The decision to put aside my counselling course, despite having paid for it, has let me off the hook. My mornings before work are free for me to write. I feel as if I have let go of a weight that was hampering my progress. It seems I have made the right decision.

Many things have come together to make now a better time than any other for me to consider writing more seriously. Compared to when I was younger, I now have a much broader and deeper experience of life. For the past six years I have been a member of the Fellowship of Australian Writers. We meet once a month and learn about all manner of writing, from short stories to articles and from poetry of various types through to screen writing. I have maintained the website for our branch for the last few years which can be found here: Eastwood/Hills FAW. There are groups all over Australia as well as support for isolated writers. For further information visit http://www.writers.asn.au/ to find out what’s available in your area, if you are in Australia. I cannot begin to describe how much I have learnt over this time. It has been excellent and continues to be so.

I have more voluntary opportunities to write for various publications, than ever before. These include TableAus – the Australian Mensa Magazine, various pagan newsletters and an anthology, The Writers’ Voice which is sent out by FAW, a tanka published in an issue of Eucalypt, a tanka journal, an invitiation to write a review for a book by an author who has already published several… If I pause and look at the way the doors are opening it is quite extraordinary and breathtaking. It reminds me of that moment when one has taxied to the end of the runway, the coms tower has given the go ahead and now the plane is gathering speed with intent. Take off is imminent.

All the voluntary opportunities allow me to be out there. I can test the water, see the reactions, find out if what I have to offer is hitting the right spot or if I need to adjust, tweak and refine. (There’s always plenty rewriting, anyway.)

I can bring everything I am to my writing: all of my life experiences, the myriad things that fascinate me and captivate my interest and imagination, everything I will learn in the future. My hotchpotch curriculum vitae with its mix of nursing, programming, writing, insurance, counselling courses and business management suddenly looks like an asset instead of a liability. It honestly feels as if everything has been for this – writing. It’s through writing that I intend to peel back the layers and explore other dimension of calling – what it means to live in a way that is fully alive and intentional.